Solutions Architect

Financial Ombudsman Service; London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000; Full time

Job description

Looking for a new challenge?

Take a look at our current vacancies. If you see a vacancy that is right for you, we encourage you to apply!

Solution Architect

Contract: Permanent

Working hours: 35 hours per week is full time. Where possible, we are open to considering part time/flexible working patterns. Please let us know in your application your desired working pattern.

Salary: Circa £85,000

Reporting to: Chief Architect

Location: London docklands. Our permanent hybrid policy sees us all working at least four days across a fortnight in the office.

We are looking for a Solution Architect who can craft technology solutions to tackle complex business challenges. This role blends technical expertise with business insight and creativity. You'll leverage both new and existing tech to drive innovation and business success.

If you have experience of working with non-technical and technical stakeholders and creating and articulating technology solutions - we invite you to review our minimum criteria, and apply.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop comprehensive solutions using a mix of current and emerging technologies.
• Translate business requirements into practical technical solutions.
• Create vision documents and high-level designs aligned with business goals.
• Collaborate with development teams to ensure solutions are effectively developed, tested, and deployed.
• Work alongside database and infrastructure teams to guarantee scalability, reliability, and security.
• Coordinate with internal teams and third-party vendors to integrate various technical components.
• Maintain a broad understanding of application development, database management, and infrastructure.

Minimum Criteria:

• Experience in application development with a solid grasp of software development life cycles. Technical proficiency in application development, database management, and infrastructure is key.
• Knowledge of relational and NoSQL databases.
• Understanding of cloud platforms, networking, and security components.
• Ability to produce detailed technical documentation and high-level designs.
• Excellent communication skills for explaining complex technical concepts.
• Experience collaborating with internal teams and external vendors to deliver integrated solutions.

Candidates should ideally have some experience of our existing Technology Areas:

• Microsoft Azure (general IaaS, PaaS)
• Microsoft D365
• Microsoft Power Platform
• Microsoft M365
• SharePoint Online
• Microsoft PowerBI
• Azure OpenAI
• SQL
• CosmosDB
• Workday

Why Financial Ombudsman Service?

We are a values led organisation. Our values define our culture, influence our decisions, and underpin our vision and strategy. They set out how we play our PART through Purpose, Ambition, Respect and Trust. You can learn more about our values here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/aims-values

We also offer an attractive, competitive salary and flexible benefits to suit our people. Here’s a list of some of the many benefits and perks you can get for working with us:

• 25 days holiday entitlement, with the option to buy extra or sell days.
• Generous pension.
• Various Family Friendly Policies, including enhanced maternity pay, carers and dependants leave.
• Employer provided benefits such as Private medical insurance, virtual GP, Critical illness cover, Life assurance cover, to name a few.
• Choice of voluntary benefits including Technology scheme, Cycle to work scheme, Will-writing service amongst others.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Extensive opportunities for personal and career development.
• Nationwide gym membership discounts, and a fully equipped on-site gym open 24/7 in London.
• Extensive Well-being resources including on-site therapists (London office only).
• Beautiful and bright London office looking over the Thames and near to mainline stations.
• Our Coventry office is 2 minutes’ walk from the main station.
• Our employee led networks (a couple of examples being our Women's Network, Carers network, and Neurodiverse Network) do fantastic work in educating and raising awareness across a range of experiences and support us in being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. You can get involved, too!

How do I apply?

Please apply with your up to date CV.

A full job profile is available on request and will be provided to candidates shortlisted.

We’re proud to be an inclusive employer

We view diversity as fundamental to our success and welcome applications from underrepresented groups across all communities.

We’re committed to being a great place to work– attracting and developing people from the widest possible range of backgrounds. We want everyone to perform at their best and feel able to be themselves. We understand that if we’re diverse and inclusive, we’ll better understand different perspectives, which is fundamental to our job resolving financial complaints.

We welcome applications from Black and other ethnic minority candidates, and female candidates, for all positions and particularly so for senior leader positions as they are under-represented within the Financial Ombudsman Service at this level.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. This means that we will put disabled candidates entering under the scheme through to the next stage of the recruitment process should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. A minimum criterion needs to be measurable from reviewing a candidate’s CV/supporting statement. Exceptions may apply if due to the volume of applications we are not able to interview all eligible candidates who qualify under the scheme. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about any reasonable adjustments you need, please email [e-mail] and let us know your preferred method of contact.

Find out more

Check out below channels to find out more about everyday life at the Financial Ombudsman Service – and don’t forget to follow us while you’re there!

• LinkedIn: Financial Ombudsman Service
• Our careers page: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/join-us

Good luck with your application!